1. Field of the Invention
The present invention belongs to a technical field of an operation device which is mainly provided inside a passenger compartment of a motor vehicle or the like, operable either by a driver or a passenger on a front passenger seat, and capable of identifying the operator.
2. Description of the Related Art
An operation device of this kind is disclosed in Japanese patent laying-open publication (Tokkaihei) No. 7-306055. In this operation device, an arm of a passenger on a front passenger seat of a motor vehicle being stretched out to operate an on-vehicle navigation system is detected by infrared rays using an infrared emitting diode and an infrared receiving diode.
Further, another operation device is disclosed in Japanese patent laying-open publication (Tokkaihei) No. 8-184449. In this operation device, a pulse beam sensor is used to detect an arm of a driver being stretched out to operate a navigation system, and an infrared area sensor is used to detect an arm of a passenger on a front passenger seat being stretched out to operate the navigation system.
However, in the conventional operation devices, a dedicated sensor separated from an operation portion must be used to release an operation restriction of a passenger. Further, the switch and the sensor are separated and thus the detection becomes inaccurate, so that, in order to increase accuracy, a detection distance must be made long.
The present invention is made in view of the above described problems, and an object thereof is to provide an operation device which is capable of securely identifying which of a driver and a front passenger operates the operation device.